


dance in the moonlight when all the stars align

by youdidnt



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Girls in Love, Minor Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Tooth-Rotting Fluff, past trauma, princess prom but happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24232660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youdidnt/pseuds/youdidnt
Summary: They celebrate.Glimmer is the one who, some time after their last stand, steps forward and announces the party in Bright Moon Castle begrudgingly, but Bow is grinning wide and suddenly she is, too.(Princess Prom, but happy)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 397





	dance in the moonlight when all the stars align

**Author's Note:**

> I had to work through some things after THAT happened.
> 
> As always, thank you [Quanna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quanna) for helping me with proof-reading and... words in general.
> 
> Title is from "You and I" by PVRIS (shoutout to everyone who put that song on their Catradora playlist, I see and I appreciate you)

The fight is over.

The fight is over and they rejoice, rebuild, reinvent their way of living. New relationships are forged, old ones mended and some left behind.

They mourn. After everything they had to endure, everything that passed, they still mourn. No one understands better than they do.

They heal. Not fully, not yet. But they start to.

They celebrate.

Glimmer is the one who, some time after their last stand, steps forward and announces the party in Bright Moon Castle begrudgingly, but Bow is grinning wide and suddenly she is, too.

Suddenly the most pressing matter in all of Bright Moon is the dress code for the evening: How do you dress after you survived hell? What should you look like when you want to celebrate being alive?

Adora knows.

_

On the way to the ballroom Adora catches her reflection in a mirror. She almost doesn’t recognise herself in the flowing white gown, the golden circlet adorning her head, keeping her loose hair in place. The girl from her dream had been older, hair shorter and skin unmarred with bruises and scars from past fights and Adora almost feels guilty for trying to chase that dream, the one she once didn’t dare to have, undeserving of being here while others aren’t –

“Hey, Adora?”

She looks away from the mirror to the outstretched hand in front of her.

Catra, she thinks, looks nothing like she did in her dream. Her hair is still short, for a start, and she has opted for a two-piece suit, not unlike the one she had worn an impossible time ago. She still flinches every time someone so much as brushes past her and unlike her carefree dream self wears a sadness in her eyes that won’t go away for some time to come. Adora wouldn’t trade her for the world.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” Adora says.

“By yourself?”

Catra laughs when she rolls her eyes.

“Come on now, Sparkles won’t be too happy if we’re late.”

Adora takes her hand.

_

Adora watches Catra throwing back a drink and laughing at something Scorpia says, surprising them both. It’s a tentative encounter but there’s relief in both their eyes and Adora knows with utmost certainty that they, too, will work it out.

“I’m happy for you.”

She startles, fumbling with the skewer she had been nibbling on, barely catching it. Perfurma is standing right next to her in a spot that had been empty only mere seconds ago. Or so Adora thinks.

“Perfuma,” she says accusingly. Perfuma gives her an apologetic smile.

“I wasn’t even that quiet, you were just very distracted,” she replies knowingly. A soft smile spreads on her face and she places a hand on Adora’s shoulder.

“You really do look happy, Adora.”

Adora looks back at Catra who has now taken up an arm-wrestling match with Frosta and, to her visible dismay, seems to be losing. Her gaze falls on the golden wing pin on Catra’s lapel.

“Yeah,” she breathes. “I think I am.”

__

Adora laughs as Bow spins her across the dance floor. She laughs even more at his startled face when she lifts him. He joins her and they break into a fit of giddy laughter. Wrong Hordak dances past them, looking confused but determined as Entrapta tries to teach him the robot.

Glimmer cuts in, stealing Bow from Adora, and Adora watches them swirl away, both with besotted smiles on their faces. Happiness is a good look on Glimmer, she thinks.

“Disgusting,” Catra mutters as she hugs her from behind, planting her chin on Adora’s shoulder. She is smiling, too.

“Can you imagine him as a king? His negotiating strategy is going to be hugging everyone until they agree.”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” Adora hums, turning her head and nuzzling Catra’s cheek. “Besides, he has Glimmer to keep him in check.”

“Oh yes, queen of sparkles and king of hugs, they’re truly going to scare people into submission,” she says, and freezes. Adora waits.

“Not like that’s what they want to, or should be doing, I mean, we’re not at war and don’t have to…” she stammers, looking away.

“Hey, it’s alright.” Adora kisses her cheek before she detangles herself from the embrace but only to reach for Catra’s hands immediately after, not wanting to let go. Not now, not ever again.

“Care to dance?” she asks, pulling Catra close.

_

They stumble towards their friends and the closed-off look on Catra’s face disappears quickly. Instead she’s smiling, wide and open as they stumble over each other’s feet. It’s ungraceful and messy, unlike the calculated first dance they shared, but they’re laughing until they have tears in their eyes and the only beat Adora is following from now on is the one of her own heart.

They dance with other people, too. Adora laughs when Scorpia crushes her into her chest, leading a fast tango, she laughs when she casually dances with Sea-Hawk and Mermista, who tries and fails to look like she’s not having fun, she laughs when she spins Glimmer across the floor and she laughs when they all end up standing in a circle, dancing and enjoying each other’s company.

She laughs when she ends up in Catra’s arms again and is pulled away from the festivities towards the balcony.

She only stops laughing when Catra circles Adora’s waist with her arms and leans in, stealing her breath right off her lips.

She feels giddy and warm, as she cups Catra’s face in her own hands on instinct, safer than she’s ever felt both among the Horde and the princesses. There’s no threat looming above them and there’s no second guessing anymore, least of all this.

Nothing has ever felt as right as kissing Catra.

Catra notices Adora’s tears before she does and wipes them away with her thumbs, careful not to get her claws too close. Their foreheads touch, their gazes meet. 

“What are you thinking about?” she asks.

“You.”

As if the answer has ever been anything else.

Catra chuckles and blushes and, most importantly, doesn’t pull away. Moves impossibly closer.

“Bow and Glimmer really have made you a sap, huh?”

“They’ll get to you, too.”

Catra kisses her again, sweet and toe-curling. It’s almost too much.

“Do you want to go back inside?” she asks when they break apart. “I’m sure Etheria is missing their saviour.”

There’s no bite to Catra’s words, all of that past bitterness gone. Still, there is something in her voice that makes Adora aware there’s only one right answer to the question.

“Nah,” she says and watches Catra’s face lights up. “I think they’re doing just fine without me.”

“I have to keep you company, then,” Catra grins. “Wouldn’t want you to get bored on your own. Not because I like you or something, of course.”

“No, it’s because you love me.”

Catra freezes in Adora’s embrace and for a second she thinks she went too far, said too much and now Catra is going to bolt, but she relaxes again and gives Adora a smile that sets every cell in her body aflame.

“Yeah, I do,” she says softly and leans back in.

__

They relearn. Each other but also themselves.

They heal. Slowly and carefully, facing both progress and setbacks, but they heal.

Together. 


End file.
